Tag: knee

Nick Newell‘s left arm ends at the elbow but that hasn’t stopped him from becoming a damned good MMA fighter. The lightweight has been fighting professionally since 2009 and on Friday he emphatically improved his perfect record to 8-0 with a vicious knee to the head KO win.

Newell took on and took out Adam David Mays at XFC 19 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Newell went for the kill in the first round with head kicks, upper cuts, hooks and, finally, knees to the head.

We’re sure it isn’t politically correct to call Newell a “crazy, one-armed bastard,” as television commentator Michael Schiavello did at the end of last night’s fight, but we have to agree. Nick Newell doesn’t need both arms to whoop you – not sure what’s more bad-ass than that.

(You just hate to see a guy like Franca sidelined for anything other than a steroid suspension or drunk-driving arrest.)

UFC lightweight Hermes Franca has been forced to pull out of his scheduled bout with Joe Lauzon at Fight Night 17 on Feb. 7 due to a torn ACL, according to a post by Franca on the UG. Franca said he injured the knee last Saturday and will now have it repaired. He added:

Thank you UFC,my fans, friends for the support, i was training hard and i was so excited ,but there’s nothing i can do, (could be worse), so Hermes franca will take a break for some recovery,and come back stronger than ever like i always do!!!!

Nothing like referring to yourself in the third person to remind everyone that you are a professional athlete. This is the second time in the last week that a scheduled opponent of one of the Lauzon brothers has had to pull out of a fight due to injury. First Chris Horodecki failed his physical exam prior to a fight with Dan Lauzon, which meant “The Upgrade” had to face “Frantic” Bobby Green and get his testicles jostled. Now Franca is hurt and the UFC will have to find a replacement to take on Joe Lauzon.

Lauzon, replying to Franca’s post, expressed his disappointment at the news and wished Franca a speedy recovery, real gentleman-like. Then things got a little weird on the ol’ internets, with this remark from Franca:

As a couple of you pointed out yesterday, a match between Cain Velasquez and a foreigner with “a terrorist name” would have been perfect for UFC’s “Fight for the Troops” event on December 10th. Unfortunately, the Velasquez/Mustapha Al-Turk bout is in danger as the American fighter recently suffered a knee injury in training, and is currently recovering from arthroscopic surgery. According to MMAWeekly, a final decision on Velasquez’s status will be made in two weeks, but his fight will probably be rescheduled to UFC 92 (12/27) or 93 (1/31).

Scheduled to make his return to the Octagon this June against Chuck Liddell at UFC 85 in London, light heavyweight star Mauricio “Shogun” Rua has instead been forced to withdraw from the bout due to a ruptured ACL in his left knee, the same injury he had surgery on to repair last October after his UFC 76 fight with Forrest Griffin.

Surgery on the injured knee will be scheduled shortly, and there is no word on when Rua will be cleared to return to the Octagon.

Liddell’s opponent for UFC 85, which will be held at London’s O2 Arena on June 7th, will be announced shortly.

Damn it, we were really looking forward to that one. All we can say to Rua is find a competent surgeon or find a new line of work; we’ve seen more pictures of you in a hospital bed than in a gym. And who knows who Liddell’s replacement opponent will be, because all of the UFC’s other top 205ers are already busy around that time. Check it…

Quinton Jackson, Forrest Griffin: fighting each other in JulyLyoto Machida, Tito Ortiz: fighting each other in MayWanderlei Silva, Keith Jardine: fighting each other in MayRameau Thierry Sokoudjou: scheduled to fight Kazuhiro Nakamura in MayThiago Silva, Rashad Evans: likely to fight each other in May

That doesn’t really leave anyone else that would give Chuck a serious challenge. We’d guess that either T. Silva, Evans, or Sokoudjou will be pulled off the match they were slated for to fight Chuck. Thiago and Sokoudjou might be interesting opponents, but a win for Chuck wouldn’t do much to prove he’s ready for another title shot, and a loss would sink him. Fucking Shogun — this kind of ruins everything.

According to Yahoo! Sports,Stephan Bonnar tore ligaments in his knee during training last week and will be out for six months. As a result, he’ll be unable to fight Matt Hamill at Ultimate Fight Night 13 on 4/2. Said Bonnar: “I was doing nothing out of the ordinary, just working on my (jiu-jitsu) getting ready for my fight. I heard a pop and I thought, ‘Damn, what is this?’ I walked around on it a little, but when I got home, it was really stiff and swollen.” The American Psycho will have surgery soon in Los Angeles, where a ligament from a fucking cadaver will be placed into his knee. By the time his recovery period is over, Bonnar will have been inactive for 10 months (his last fight was a TKO victory over Eric Schafer at UFC 77 in October).

This blows, completely. Out of all the big fights at UFN 13, the Bonnar/Hammil match is the one we were most looking forward to. We hope the UFC can find a solid opponent for Matt Hammil so he’s not dropped from the card. In case Joe Silva is reading this, two possibilities come to mind:

Tim Boetsch: UFC fans want to see more of this guy after he kicked/slammed/punched the shit out of David Heath at UFC 81. With another fight or two at that same level of intensity, he’ll earn a place in the light-heavyweight division’s mid-range mix.

Wilson Gouveia: He’s been 4-0 in the UFC since losing to Keith Jardine at the Ultimate Fighter 3 finale, including his highlight-reel knockout of Jason Lambert at UFC 80. One more credible win and he’ll be ready for top-ten-caliber competition.

Another classic Rampage jam from PRIDE, this one against Ikuhisa “The Punk” Minowa at Shockwave 2003 (12/31/03). I’d argue that Quinton Jackson officially became a star when he brushed away the hand of the referee who was checking his junk at the beginning. (The man certainly does not play that shit!) It’s an exciting fight from start to finish, featuring no less than three body-slams from Jackson, repeated knees to the head, and a sort-of-early stoppage that compels Minowa to get up in Jackson’s face then immediately think better of it.